Body in the Woods (A Reverend Annabelle Dixon Cozy Mystery Book 3) (11 page)

“Did you love her?” Annabelle asked, as carefully as she could.

Daniel screwed his face up once again, crunching through his peanuts as he searched for the words. His eyes turned pensive as he looked to the side.

“What does a kid know about love at that age?” he said, eventually.

Annabelle shrugged. “You do seem like you were very taken with her.”

“I was,” Daniel said, his face serious now. “She was a fantastic girl. But Louisa was the one that really took my breath away.”

Annabelle almost fell off her chair at this revelation.

“Louisa Montgomery? Her sister? The teacher?”

Daniel nodded, his silence only adding to the conviction behind his words.

“You were in love with Louisa? Not Lucy?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Lucy was wonderful. She was pretty, charming, easy to talk to. She was the second most attractive girl in the entire village.”

“But Louisa was the first?”

“Louisa was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, even to this day,” Daniel said, his palm slapping gently on the tabletop as if to emphasize his point. “Pretty girls are ten a penny, but Louisa had something more about her, a quality, a magnetism. She was like a queen. And smart, too. Almost scarily so. I know it’s hard to believe looking at her now but she was the kind of girl who made you feel like you were in the presence of something magnificent.”

Annabelle found herself stunned into silence at the sincerity and devotion that came through in Daniel’s words.

“But…” Annabelle stammered, searching for some logic in this new perspective, “if you felt that way about Louisa and not Lucy, why did you date Lucy and not her sister?”

Daniel leaned back in his chair and opened his palms in a gesture of defeat. “Louisa had a boyfriend. She was taken. Gary Barnes, a boring bloke if you ask me. They were ‘childhood sweethearts,’ together since they were too young to really know what they were doing. They even got married eventually, but they divorced soon afterwards.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know the details, but Gary worked for a car manufacturer and got offered a position in their American office. He wanted to go, and she didn’t. Simple, really. Knowing Gary, though, it makes perfect sense. He was always the kind of person who put work before anything else.”

“Hmm,” Annabelle said, fishing around in the peanut packet with no luck. Daniel plucked it from the table and waved it in the direction of the bar. The man behind it nodded once more.

“Katie Flynn painted a very different picture of Louisa when I asked about her earlier.”

“Bah,” Daniel scoffed, “of course she would. She’s had it in for her since that whole mess with the tea shop. Katie’s always been one to hold a grudge. She’s been like that since we were young.”

A new packet of peanuts was placed on the table and Daniel opened it for Annabelle as she furrowed her brow in thought.

“Thank you,” Annabelle said, plucking a few nuts from the proffered packet and munching on them absent-mindedly.

“Is there a particular reason you’re asking about all of this, Reverend?”

Annabelle swallowed and washed the peanuts down with another sip from what little was left of her cider. “Just curiosity,” she lied, acceding to the Inspector’s wishes for once. “I only recently heard of Lucy’s disappearance. It seemed rather odd to me.”

“What was odd about it?”

“Well, that she disappeared without a trace. Excuse my directness, but it seemed like, as someone close to her, you would have known what had happened or even been under suspicion yourself.”

Daniel laughed nervously. “I was! The police asked me so many questions that I thought I was going to get a grade at the end of it!”

Annabelle’s  refusal to acknowledge his joke urged Daniel to continue.

“I don’t know what happened. I wish I did...”

“When did you last see her?”

“We had gone to the cinema to see a film. A chick flick.Her choice, of course. Afterwards, she was in a good mood. We walked about the village and stopped at Benjamin's, a nice pie shop by the library that isn’t there anymore. We talked and ate, then I walked her home. Louisa met us at the door, I kissed her goodbye, and that was that.”

“When did you realize she was gone?”

“A few days later, we were supposed to meet on the edge of the village, across the woods from Shona Alexander’s place. I waited at the bus stop for an hour because she was late. But see, she was always late. I’d get so worked up, but she was the kind of person who could make you forget how angry you were by saying something silly. This time though, I was so cheesed off that I was thinking about how I wouldn’t let that happen this time. Eventually, I went home. I called her house, this was before mobile phones, and Louisa told me she was definitely out because she had seen her leave the house. That’s when I realized something was up.”

“Did anyone see you at the bus stop?”

“Not really. I mean, a few buses went past, but if I asked you who was waiting at a bus stop when you drove past, would you remember?”

“Did anyone else see her leave?”

“Her mother. Her father was dead at that point. Once Louisa told me they had seen her go out the door, I got a bit anxious, still angry, but a little bit worried. I went around the village asking everyone if they’d seen her. Nobody had. That night her mother called the police. The night after that, they were asking me about every conversation we’d ever had. It was like they thought I’d kidnapped her and hidden her somewhere!”

“What do you think happened?”

Daniel thought over the question a little, though it was clear he had an answer ready.

“I think she ran away, to tell you the truth. Like I said, she wanted to be an actress, a singer, have adventures, and see the world. My guess is that she just left, probably to make her fortune in London or some other big city.”

“But without telling anyone? Without packing anything?”

Daniel shrugged. “Maybe she was fed up with village life, fed up of the same people. Maybe she wanted a clean break from everything. God knows I’ve wanted that myself sometimes. Lucy was a poet, an idealist. She probably thought it would be romantic to run away to London one day and see if she could make it with nothing in her pocket. The funny thing is, I’d bet that she could.”

Annabelle found Daniel’s casual manner in discussing Lucy’s disappearance slightly concerning until she reminded herself that he had no idea about the body in the woods. For him, this was a long gone incident that was dead and buried. If he had been aware of the imminent news that the affair was to be revisited, he would almost certainly not have been so open about his dismissive feelings toward Lucy or his still rather strong ones for Louisa.

After sipping the last of her cider, Annabelle placed the glass down softly and looked once again at the attractive face of the man sitting across from her.

“Would you like another?” he asked.

“No, thank you, I should get going.”

Daniel looked askance at the Reverend while a playful smile worked its way onto his face.

“Is that really all that you wanted to ask me about, Reverend?”

“Yes, though I may have more to ask you soon. Thank you for your time, Daniel.”

Daniel chuckled. “My pleasure. It’s always nice to share a pint with someone new.”

Annabelle dropped the payment for her drink and peanuts in coins on the table and left Daniel to join some friends of his. As soon as she stepped outside, a cold snap of wind and the surprisingly dark street once again reminded her of the approaching season. She pulled her cassock in around her a little more tightly and began walking.

Annabelle decided not to drive home immediately. After her cider, she needed to wait before she could get safely back behind the wheel. She had an hour to kill so she decided to amble around the village and use the time to think about what she had learned from the surprisingly forthright butcher.

She now had an idea of the time and events that had surrounded Lucy’s disappearance, though she was still grappling with wildly differing accounts. The enigmatic Louisa Montgomery was growing ever more difficult to discern. To Katie, she was an introverted shrew who lived in the shadow of her sister’s charming personality and radiant popularity. To Daniel, she was a magnetic beauty who surpassed her sister in all aspects, and for whom he would have dismissed Lucy in an instant were Louisa not bound to a dullard since youth.

And still, despite the detailed, honest reports of these two childhood friends who had been present at the time of her disappearance, Annabelle could not ascertain a motive or reason for Lucy’s murder, if indeed it was murder.

Feeling the corner of her notepad jut into her waist, Annabelle was reminded once again of her need to deliver the Sunday sermon. She decided to visit the local library. It was always a peaceful, inspiring place for such things, and there, she could focus her thoughts on something other than the mysteries that were causing her such consternation.

With the purpose of a destination in mind, she quickened her pace and took a rather discreet shortcut through a cobblestoned alleyway that always made her feel as if she had stepped back in time to the eighteenth century.

“You can’t have her!” came a faint voice from the darkness at the end of the alley. “She’s mine! She’s always been mine! Who do you think you are to take her from me!?”

Something about the voice seemed familiar to Annabelle, but the anger and aggressiveness threw all of her senses for a spin. Had she stumbled upon a physical altercation? Was somebody in danger? Annabelle flew into a stride that carried her down the short length of the alleyway in seconds, grimly determined to ensure that no harm would come to anybody, her arms raised in preparation for whatever lurked in the shadows.

“She belongs with me! And I’ll do everything in my power to keep her!”

As Annabelle drew closer, the silhouette became recognizable. She slowed down as she reached within a few yards of the wildly gesticulating, hurriedly pacing figure who was screaming into his phone.

“Just you try and stop me! She’s mine! She’s always been mine!”

It was the Inspector, and he was shouting so viciously into his phone that Annabelle could see the spittle flying from his gnarled mouth even in the darkness. She held back, hoping the Inspector would not see her, but when he hung up with an immense amount of frustration, he spun around to walk away and was immediately confronted by the sight of the embarrassed Vicar.

“Ah… Hello Inspector?”

“What do you want? Are you listening in on my conversations now as well?”

“Absolutely not! I was just on my way to the library.”

“And you decided to stop and tell me how to do my job again, did you?”

Annabelle’s embarrassment was replaced by an assuredness that ran confidently through her in the face of the Inspector’s rudeness.

“You were shouting at the top of your lungs, Inspector. You cannot expect privacy when you choose to rant and rave in public so.”

The Inspector breathed deeply, unable to find a retort amid the muddled thoughts of his anger.

“Now,” continued Annabelle, taking this moment of confusion to assert herself, “I was simply passing when I heard you and if you’d care to calm down and talk reasonably with me, Inspector, I believe I may be able to provide some information that would be pertinent to your current case.”

At this the Inspector straightened himself and looked at Annabelle directly.

“Go on.”

Annabelle smiled at the Inspector’s receptiveness.

“This is terribly exciting, isn’t it?” she giggled. “Two people exchanging information in a dark alleyway. It’s like a scene from one of those exotic spy films, or a romantic thriller…”

“Reverend…”

“We’re almost making a habit of meeting in dark places, Inspector. If I didn’t know bett—”

“Please, Reverend. I’m not in the mood. Just tell me what you’ve found out.”

“Yes, of course,” Annabelle said, clearing her throat. “Well, I’ve learned that Lucy’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance was Daniel Green, a local butcher.”

“Excellent,” the Inspector said sincerely, though his voice still bore the remnants of his earlier fury. “Then we have a suspect.”

Annabelle balked at the Inspector’s speedy conclusion.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean to imply… I mean, perhaps. It’s not implausible… But I was by no means saying…”

“What did he tell you?”

“Well, this is the interesting aspect, he told me he wasn’t particularly attached to Lucy at all. In fact, it was
Louisa
that his heart was truly set on.”

Even in the darkness Annabelle could see the Inspector’s expression settle firmly.

“You’ve just given me a suspect and a motive, Reverend. This ‘butcher’ prefers the sister to Lucy, so he offs Lucy and hopes it’ll bring him closer to the girl he wants.”

“Inspector! Surely you cannot reduce this to something so simple. I am certain there are more layers of complexity to this.”

The Inspector sighed deeply, regretting his recent outburst. “You’re right. I’ve just got a lot on my mind. It’s a possibility though. We’ve confirmed the body is Lucy’s. She died from a blow to the head, and it appears that she was being regularly beaten throughout her life.”

Annabelle gasped. “Surely not!”

“Oh, it’s for sure, all right. The forensic anthropologist confirmed it.”

“That’s dreadful!” Annabelle said.

“These things often are.”

Annabelle cast her eyes down mournfully.

“There’s something else,” Annabelle said, raising her eyes to meet the Inspector’s, “I followed Louisa today.”

“Is that normal behavior for a Reverend?”

“Is shouting in the street normal for a detective?”

“I’m sorry. Continue.”

“Well, she did something rather strange. She visited a shed, over on the allotments at the edge of the village. I waited for half an hour, and she didn’t come back out.”

The Inspector scratched his stubble as he thought over this.

“Isn’t that what people usually do when they’re at their allotments?”

“Not really… Perhaps. I found her behavior rather strange. She went there right after her meeting with you. She wasn’t dressed for digging. Then she got her groceries. I have a peculiar feeling that there may be something worth investigating in that shed.”